Brothers McClurg has a beautiful acoustic “live” project called Around The Mic.
As seen during the opening act of their touring show, this record features Chris Hoisington, Anthony Hoisington and Jeremy Thompson standing in a circle and bearing their hearts in song. No frills. Just raw musical emotion.
And all this, captured in the most classic way they could envision: direct to 2-inch tape on a Studer Mk. 4. Then it was mixed analog and mastered for your digital listening enjoyment.
Free Chord Chart for On The Rock by Brothers McClurg
Chris Hoisington says this about their Around The Mic project:
“We recorded Around The Mic to analog 2-inch tape we wanted to capture the record the way they would have 30 years ago. We tried to mix modern worship with an old gospel feel all the songs are originals but have that old sound.
I can see it serving churches that can’t do full band stuff and most of the songs sound just fine with a few harmonies and one acoustic guitar.”
We agree. There is something beautiful and nostalgic about incorporating music that is raw and real into our worship sets. Many in the younger generation are longing for authentic expressions of worship that “feel” more real than the more produced modern worship studio sound that we’ve grown accustomed to over the last 2 decades.
The wonderful thing about these types of projects is that they provide a peek into the way things might have sounded generations ago. Brothers McClurg has a very obvious desire to honor their elders through their musical offerings.
This doesn’t mean that they are only doing old-timey hymns and songs that have been around for ages. In fact, this Around The Mic project contains original music in a wonderfully sincere bluegrass/folk/Appalachian style.
Our Thoughts:
This project may or may not be the cup of tea for someone who loves their modern worship music on full-blast with electric guitars and synths turned up to 11. But, it is a perfect fit for those who love the idea of a real, lie around the mic experience. The songs are solid and the arrangements can be adapted easily for any setting. Generations, old and young, alike will connect to the genuine feel of real, live music. This type of recording is a breath of fresh air in a crowded space filled with loud electric guitars, synths and auto-tuned vocals.
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We love this album and highly recommend it for personal devotional worship listening AND corporate worship gatherings. We love that worship songs like this can be used to introduce NEW and original songs in a vintage sound and feel. Young and old will connect to this.
We rated the production 9/10 (instead of 10) because those looking for a polished project with lots of post-production will need to look elsewhere. The BEAUTIFUL thing about this project is the way that it was recorded, mixed and mastered.
We also rated Corporate Worship as a 9/10 because congregations that might not lean into more of the acoustic side of things will need to create adaptations of these songs for them to work where they are.
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Musicality
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Vocals
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Usefulness
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Worship
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Production
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Personal Worship
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Corporate Worship
